Florida Vs. Jersey

I lived in florida for 4 years... surfed up and down the east coast of florida and my vote goes to jersey.

 

i learned to surf in FL (30 years ago) but now surf in NJ

the positives of both places, in my opinion.

florida has:

* several good reef breaks, many more than those that are well-known

* good jetty, inlet and pier setups from s.beach to jax

* endless beach break

* beautiful water and scenery

* can almost always find a wave to ride , as long as you don't mind driving, knee high waves or junk

* warmth

jersey has :

* incredible tubes, much more frequently than florida --- and they are often quite makable

* plenty of open beach breaks

* lots of good jetties.

* some sandbars that mimic points

* a decent amount of consistency - and some really excellent days ( again, if you like big honkin tubes )

* access to reefs if you are willing to drive 5 to 8 hours to RI, NH, Maine ( i include this b/c of FL's size & drive times )

both places can be maddeningly flat - and consistency is hard to compare b/c it depends on what you define as ridable and/or a "good" day

if you want to tube ride , i find jersey far better

but i also enjoy the reef breaks of FL - which NJ completely lacks

below we can see the differences in overall swell activity by looking at data from two buoys 44009 (NJ) and 41012 (FL) ... i chose 44009 to be conservative as ( from experience ) i believe NJ to be more consistent. and chose 41012 ( near new smyrna ) to make sure we do not short change FL in the comparison. the orange line shows how many months where we can expect "outlier" days to exceed 6 meter significant wave height. In NJ, that number is 7. In FL, 1 ( september ) .

The number of months where the confidence intervals for expected significant wave height in NJ includes 2 meters ( a nice head high day ) is 8 where i count when the red bar reaches / cross 2meters. in FL, it is 5.

the biggest gains for NJ are Jan - April. Both places suck Jun Jul Aug but we all know that. NJ is still slightly ahead for those months but still quite small.

also - note that the years in which this data was collected differ - for NJ, it dates from 1985 , for FL, dates from 2002. so that may bias things toward NJ if indeed it was "better back in the day."





i also used the "Historical Meteorological Data Search" on these two buoys to compare 2011 and 2012.

in 2011 , a search over the whole year for days with wave height >= 2 meters produces

NJ:

Total Events: 54 Summary
Duration (hrs) Min: 4 Max: 56 Avg: 11

Percent of Records
Matching Search Criteria

Jan Dec Average
9% 10% 15% 16% 6% 0% 0% 3% 10% 12% 19% 7% 9%


FL:

Total Events: 35 Summary
Duration (hrs) Min: 4 Max: 27 Avg: 7

Jan Dec Average
3% 0% 8% 0% 0% 0% 0% 4% 5% 11% 24% 11% 6%

you can see that NJ has longer swell events with waves over 2 meters ( 11 hours vs 7 for FL ).

this data also shows a similar trend to the graphs : Jan - April are particularly better in NJ .

in 2012, the numbers in both FL and NJ are similar to NJ numbers for 2011... so maybe 2012 FL was just as good as NJ.

 

First I have to say im not a huge fan of this spot. The crowd is crazy there because of videos like this. Everyone wants to be filmed i guess. This is just my opinion, but i think there's better waves around when it gets bigger. The pier seems to close out, the south side not so much. The water in Fl is so much warmer and, depends and what part of Fl, much clearer. The Gulfstream is closest to the shore in Palm Beach than any other spot on the East Coast, the water gets dirtier the further north you go as the stream moves out deeper. There is plenty of days that i wouldnt surf if the water wasnt so warm. I think it helps me be a better surfer to surf when its choppy and dumping on the beach. Keeps me in shape and allows me to practice due to the high wave count. I guess surfing in Jersey would be a little more hardcore, it always seems that its freezing cold when the waves are at their best. I would argue that, at their best, the waves are Jersey are better when it comes to surf videos. Watching these guys do tow-ins into those massive barrels is awesome but it seems that needing a jetski is creating a high level of entry situation that most people who casually surf dont have access to. There are, few and far between, tow-in days in FL that could challenge those days though. Those wetsuits are super expensive. Im not saying that my 3/2 wasnt, but there is a price difference between one of those and a 5/4 with booties gloves and hoodies. Nothing beats a day at the beach with your dog and a bunch of your friends and Florida just has so many more of those days, sometimes the waves dont even have to be great. There is spots that are super fun when its just choppy and the weather allows you to just wear boardshorts most of the time. But there are always days that bring super fun days every winter and hurricane season. Those are the days you get to cash in on all your time spent in the ocean.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vueb0mQJKQk

 

A fun few days a few years back

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PihpvFTty14

 

If you're really starting a thread about consistency and quality, then using Pumphouse video to make the case about how huge and barreling Florida is about like showing a video of the cove at Cape May to show how New Jersey is a long, slow and mushy point break style wave. Neither is representive of anything that happens on a regular basis in either state.

LBCrew said something in one of the many other New Jersey vs. ____ threads...its all about intelligent spot selection, gas money, and flexible work hours. Those will get you into quality waves consistently in either Central Florida or New Jersey, regardless of what videos or statistics say.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha800SnvJUY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_cIMLncHNE

The Florida panhandle, it breaks really well every time theres a hurricane in the gulf and every cold front that dips down always produces swell. It gets really good believe it or not, just not as consistent as the east coast, but just as good or better when its breaking.

 

Ummmmmm, not the biggest waves Jersey has ever faced. Not by a long shot.

PLEASE REMEMBER PEOPLE, that the internet age has made every overhead day, "THE GREATEST DAY EVER." or "THE BIGGEST DAY EVER."

OMG, just basic knowledge of the east coast will tell you this: Jersey takes the punch of EVERY MAJOR swell that hits the EAST COAST. Lows don't push off of Florida and head straight into the Atlantic.

In the most basic of terms and illustration: Many "storms" originate from out west, travel across country, and go offshore from NC to the NE. Others form down by the gulf or have taken lower tracks across the country, pick up moisture from the gulf, and go offshore down south, but they always come on up the coast. Jersey doesn't get missed and most often than not will take the brunt.

This constant onshore flow responsible for all of these waves in Florida isn't really a swell from any stormfront, just wind chop in it's simplest form.

And aboot Hurricanes.........well Jersey faired way better on the first two swell producers last September than Florida did. It's kind fo rare that Florida gets swell from a tropical system and New Jersey doesn't. I'm talking EAST COAST here people, not some Gulf thingamajig.

 

Not saying Florida is any better than N.J., but I was dropping in on some 8ft. to 10ft. perfection 2 weeks ago, I was surfing a little north of Sebastian Inlet...bombs

http://www.atlanticsurflife.com/089_itsallablur.php

 

Looks super fun!!!! BUT there is not one 8'-10' wave pictured

 

Yo first of all I'm not busting on Florida. I love the Porky's movies, and the whole scene. I swear I'd love to live in Angel Beach and hang out with you guys. I'd never say this before but I might live in Florida these days if presented an opportunity....maybe.......

Ok, and I'm not insulting anybody here. And I'm not a Ken Bradshaw macho guy or think "Bigger is better" when it comes to waves.

But, I've been hearing alot of "8 Foot +" talk aboot Florida's waves the other week. Then I see all of the pictures and there's barely a wave over 6 foot? Now believe me, I don't judge **** just from media/intranets, but when you see five pictorials and it's basically four foot........? I don't know.

But I have anger that all of you people have made me sink down into the last remaining Jersey pride I have to argue who's better - Florida or Jersey. It's like it was instinctual.

I rarely have fun in Jersey waves anymore...oh two Saturdays ago was A-OK.

It's like fighting over which mentally challenged surfer is more intelligent.

Oh and any area that has a natural or human-caused disaster in the near future.............Please don't use your state/town and the word "Strong" together. You know, like after Sandy, it was JERSEY STRONG. The other week it's Boston Strong.

Pick a new uplifting slogan, ok. I mean you never hear dudes in Frisco saying, "Frisco Strong.............and those bas-tards get stranded on a friggin desolate strip of sand without resources when they get 'cane slammed.

Ok I'm sorry if I offended any Floridians with my Jersey attitude getting pushed. I'm trying to lose that whole thing and become a decent human being. And Zach, I didn't mean any negative vibe merchants or anything with my defense of my "Beloved" (?) New Jersey. So don't take no offense. And that Satan dude's anaylsis of the whole thing was pretty impressive. And not because it gave the edge to Nueve Yersey. East Coasters, lets not bicker amongst ourselves. Let us save our energies for the real enemy - Southern California. HA HA. Hey Zach, wave-wise, you must be kind of down-and-out, huh? That's quite a culture shock from Black's to The Washout, huh? You have my sympathies.

 

That's why I mentioned where I was at, North of the Inlet was much bigger.

 

how about we all just come back to reality and realize that jersey and Florida don't have great waves... but both can have good surf when the conditions are right....

 

Im with you MFitz73 we all have our moments...

 

+1 Fitz - hurricane smuricanes - we share those swells, or better yet, follow them. Start in FL end in NJ and beyond. That's what AI (RIP) did for hurricane Bill. And storms off NC coast, NJ benefits most. But I've had great days in both locations. Why pick a winner? Just agree to disagree and go surf.

 

NOT JERSEY but still sick, I think Maryland:

 

somebody get NJShredMachine on here

 

Another from Maryland:


and another from that epic pumphouse day in FL from Sandy: